Local police in the German town of Bad Kreuznach slammed members of the youth wing of the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) for handing out small bottles of pepper spray to locals to help them defend against potential attackers. The AfD’s youth wing Junge Alternative (JA) handed out around 150 pepper spray canisters in the centre of the town. Damian Lohr, a spokesman for JA and a member of the regional parliament, said the main purpose of the action was to help locals to defend against animals but also attacks from people in “emergency situations”, regional public broadcaster Südwestrundfunk reports. The spokesman for the Mainz police district Rinaldo Roberto criticised the group saying the use of pepper spray against other people can be treated as a crime of bodily injury but noted that it can be justified in self-defence after an appropriate court ruling. The spark for the pepper spray distribution was an incident that occurred in the town’s Kreuznacher Park in which several large groups of asylum seekers fought with each other. As a result of the mass brawl, police have banned anyone from entering three of the town’s parks at night. The prosecutor’s office has now launched a formal investigation into the giveaway. Mass